Gov. Perry welcomes health care hero back home to Texas

Published 5:46 am, Wednesday, October 29, 2014

AUSTIN - Early this morning, a nurse who has been working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone returned home to Texas. While she currently shows no signs of the disease, her job in West Africa places her at “some” risk by CDC protocols. Upon her arrival at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, she was met by Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Gov. Perry spoke by phone with the nurse soon after her arrival in Texas to personally thank her for her heroic and selfless work on the front lines of fighting Ebola. Her name is being withheld for privacy reasons.

“In Texas, we have a great tradition of welcoming our heroes back home and this heroic individual deserves our appreciation, our compassion, and our utmost respect,” said Gov. Perry. “The tremendous work that she and so many other health care workers are doing in West Africa is making life better for those in afflicted countries and helps protect the rest of the world from the spread of this terrible disease; they are doing vitally important work that makes us all proud.”

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At Gov. Perry’s request to protect public health, the nurse has agreed to self-quarantine at home and twice-daily monitoring by the Texas Department of State Health Services during the 21-day incubation period for Ebola. While this action helps ensure public safety, it also shouldn’t deter other health workers from visiting Ebola stricken countries to provide much needed help in the fight against this deadly disease.

“This health care hero has made a great sacrifice in traveling abroad to minister to those who are suffering,” said Gov. Perry. “Even now home in Texas, she continues to demonstrate her selflessness by agreeing to quarantine herself and further protect her fellow Texans.”